Berlin Alexanderplatz
Film poster
Directed byBurhan Qurbani
Screenplay by
  • Burhan Qurbani
  • Martin Behnke
Based onBerlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin
Produced by
  • Leif Alexis
  • Jochen Laube
  • Fabian Maubach
Starring
Narrated byJella Haase
CinematographyYoshi Heimrath
Edited byPhilipp Thomas
Music byDascha Dauenhauer
Production
companies
Entertainment One
Sommerhaus Filmproduktion
Wild at Art
ZDF
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • 26 February 2020 (2020-02-26) (Berlin)
  • 16 July 2020 (2020-07-16) (Germany)
Running time
183 minutes
CountriesGermany
Netherlands
Canada
LanguageGerman

Berlin Alexanderplatz is a 2020 drama film directed by Burhan Qurbani. The third adaptation of Alfred Döblin's influential 1929 novel of the same name, following one in 1931 and a 1980 fourteen-part miniseries, this iteration transposes the story to the modern day with an undocumented immigrant from West Africa in the central role.[1][2] It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the main competition section at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival.[3][4]

Cast

  • Welket Bungué as Francis/Franz, an illegal immigrant from Guinea-Bissau, who wants to start a better life in Germany.
  • Jella Haase as Mieze, a prostitute and love-interest of Francis, who is also the narrator of the film
  • Albrecht Schuch as Reinhold, a criminal drug dealer
  • Joachim Król as Pums
  • Annabelle Mandeng as Eva
  • Nils Verkooijen as Berta
  • Richard Fouofié Djimeli as Ottu
  • Thelma Buabeng as Amira
  • Faris Saleh as Masud
  • Lena Schmidtke as Elli

Reception

Jessica Kiang for Variety detects some flaws in this update of Alfred Döblin's classic novel of masculine criminal crisis: ″Although promising a deep-cut dash of contemporary topicality by reimagining the main character as an undocumented African immigrant, there is the sense that the unimpeachable craft and performances — especially from rivetingly charismatic lead Welket Bungué — ultimately add up to just too slick a package. (...) For a film that is supposed to be a contemporary update, it can feel — especially in its ill-fated female characters, who are almost all either sex workers or one-night stands of Reinhold's — weirdly out of date. “Men like me have gone out of fashion,” says Pums at one point, and it will take more than a snazzy new set of clothes to complete the overhaul that Qurbani bravely, handsomely, but a little foolhardily attempts."[5]

References

  1. ↑ Bénédicte Prot, "Burhan Qurbani readies Berlin Alexanderplatz for an April release". Cineuropa, 10 September 2018.
  2. ↑ "Berlin Alexanderplatz". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  3. ↑ "The 70th Berlinale Competition and Further Films to Complete the Berlinale Special". Berlinale. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  4. ↑ "Berlin Competition Lineup Revealed: Sally Potter, Kelly Reichardt, Eliza Hittman, Abel Ferrara". Variety. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  5. ↑ Kiang, Jessica (26 February 2020). "'Berlin Alexanderplatz': Film Review". Variety. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
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